Karnataka too good for Andhra

Karnataka thrashed Andhra Pradesh, 5-0 while Chandigarh and Maharashtra played a goalless draw in the National Games men's hockey tournament, at the Surjit Singh hockey stadium, in Jallandhar, on Wednesday.

It was the second loss for Andhra, having been beaten by Services on Tuesday by an identical margin.

For the winners, Lakshman Rao scored a brace while John Vergese, Kiran Roland and Sandeep Michell scored one goal apiece.

Karnataka opened their account in the sixth minute, when Laksham Rao collected a ball inside the penally area and slammed the ball home.

In the 23rd minute, Sandeep Michell made it 2-0 and Karnataka went into the breather with that margin.

In the 15th minute of the second half, it was Lakhsman Rao again. After intercepting a pass in the rival half, he dodged past three defenders and beat Andhra custodian Rammi Reddy to make it 3-0.

Two minutes later, John Vergese deflected a pass from Rama Rao from inside the penalty area to put Karnataka ahead 4-0.

In the dying stages of the game, Roland Kiran scored from a penalty-corner to complete the rout.

The other Pool B match, between Chandigarh and Maharashtra witnessed some rough tackles as a result of which two Chandigarh players and one from Maharshtra earned green cards.

While maharashtra earned one penalty-corner, Chandigarh got two.

Tomorrows fixtures (men):
Pool-A
West Bengal vs Tamil Nadu
Punjab vs J&K
Pool-B
Chandigarh vs Services
Maharashtra vs Karnataka

Tomorrows fixtures (women):
Pool-A
Chandigarh vs Haryana
Pool-B
Maharashtra vs Punjab